HANOI - A joint project
by the German and Vietnamese governments is using the
humble potato as a tool to improve the lives of farmers
in northern Vietnam.
An update released by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)
last week anticipated that the project's introduction of
new potato varieties, agricultural techniques and
marketing strategies would significantly improve the
economic efficiency of potato farmers in the north,
especially in the Hong (Red River) Delta.
The
project will be implemented over 10 years, with the help
of 10 million euros (US$10 million) in non-refundable
aid from the German government.
The first phase
of the Vietnam-German Potato Promotion Project began in
January 2000 and will wrap up next June. The project has
achieved some promising results in its initial stages.
It has provided essential equipment for laboratories,
tools to verify seedling quality and cold stores.
MARD noted that the key achievement of the first
phase was identifying German potato varieties suited to
the northern Vietnamese climate. The second phase of the
project will begin next July and run until December 2006
with donations of 1.8 million euros and VND4 billion
($261,000) from the German and Vietnamese governments
respectively.
MARD reported that the project
will create work for about 200,000 farmers over the
winter months, and could potentially contribute more
than VND1 billion to agricultural gross domestic
product.
